So, the coach is saying, we had to adapt. We had to do what they do — they being the suburbs, we being the city. They’ve established the standard of good football. We haven’t won a state championship since 1989.

“You know,” he says — and here, he leans in, as is his tendency — “the only way you can figure out how to do it is by being around people that have done it.”

We didn’t even have a summer program until two years ago, he says. We didn’t know it was allowed. Can you believe that? he asks. Them? Oh, they — the suburban schools — have been doing it for years, he says.

So he’s applied the suburban model to his program. And guess what? “This is the first time, to me, that we can step up,” says the coach, Denver South’s Tony Lindsay Sr. “It’s been 20 years? It’s been a long time.”

The last big-school city football championship belongs to Thomas Jefferson, in 1989. TJ beat Montbello that season, 34-32. A year later, TJ appeared in the 5A title game but lost to Longmont, and Montbello went to the 6A title game but lost to Cherry Creek. No city school has been back to a big-school championship game since.

Might this be the year things change? Might Denver South be the school to change them?

“You have to be blessed or lucky, or something — just get the breaks,” Lindsay says. “I think even without the breaks, I have a strong team here that can contend.”

So here is Denver South’s mission: Win the Class 4A state championship in its first year after dropping down from 5A; change the perception of city football; keep inner-city youth players from fleeing the city for suburban high schools via open enrollment.

That’s it? What’s the weight of a city feel like after 23 years?

“We can show some of these people that … our kids can stay here and play, and we do have decent coaches to coach your kids and we do try to get your kids in college,” Lindsay says. "That’s why a lot (parents) take their kids out. They’re like, ‘They’re not good. Look at them. They’re getting the (crud) kicked out of them. Why would I want to send my kids there?’

“That’s what we’re trying to do here. You don’t have to leave and take (your kids) way out there.”

History isn’t on South’s side, but its talented roster is. The Rebels are loaded at skill positions. Phillip Lindsay, a nephew of the coach, is the top running back in the state and bound for the University of Colorado. Quarterback Malik Tollerson is drawing comparisons to former Rangeview standout Jaleel Awini. Pete Williams, a running back, is another threat.

“They’re not going to be able to come out and say we have to stop Phillip,” Tony Lindsay says. “They’re going to have to stop South.”

But here’s the difference in this year’s team: For the first time in recent memory, the school has a big, athletic offensive line.

“We’ve come out with teams (in past years), and we’re awesome all around — receivers, running backs. We have all the specialists, but we don’t have that heart,” Tony Lindsay says. “And you can only go so far with that.”

Lindsay’s line has dedicated itself to getting better in the offseason, something unheard-of at South. The unit started intense workouts last spring, even going so far as to sneak into the weight room when a coach wasn’t available to let them in. The workouts have continued throughout the summer.

“They’ve come out and bust their butts off,” says Phillip Lindsay. “Them being out there this whole summer, they improved their footwork, lifted and got strong. That will show.”

Up and down the roster, South has players dedicated to football — another first. “That’s how the Denver Public Schools had been,” says Tony Lindsay. “We (couldn’t) get them to buy into ‘This is what we need to do to compete.’ “

Things changed when the Broncos helped start the DPS Futures Program a few years back. The spring football league for middle school students acts as a funnel of sorts for DPS schools. Much of South’s roster played there, including Phillip Lindsay and Williams. “I was able to go and get kids that wanted to play football who never heard about South. At all,” Tony Lindsay says.

The coach has also put a priority on grades. Last season, arguments broke out about making the honor roll. Five players from last year’s team are now playing college football; as many as eight from this year’s team should move on — including defensive tackle A.J. Harris, whose 4.6 GPA is drawing attention from schools like Columbia.

The last element to the coach’s formula he hopes adds up to a championship: he allows a laid-back atmosphere with his squad. Lindsay says his players can be seen as being “wild in their ways,” and that opposing coaches see it as undisciplined.

“I let my kids just be themselves,” the coach says. “Oh, I get at them. Believe me, I don’t play with them. I don’t. They know when it’s time. But I let them — they’re more free. They play better when they’re free.”

Is it a winning formula? Denver South opens the season against Mesa Ridge on Aug. 31, so we’ll get a small taste. If it works, though, you can bet there will be a line of coaches at Tony Lindsay’s door this summer, trying to figure out how he did it.

Win a title, and the message would be clear: “You don’t have to go to the outskirts to win a state championship,” Phillip Lindsay says. “We’re going to show that this year. We come out here and bust our butts everyday to prove to everybody that it doesn’t matter where you are, that you can do it anywhere.”